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“You’ve set real benchmarks in the formula, as far as what you expect on spending,” said state Rep. Rep. Blaine Wilhour. “We need real benchmarks on what we expect on student outcomes in conjunction with that spending. Because it looks to me like there’s really nothing.”
“All of us are bracing for cuts,” said one elementary principal. “How could there not be? The money has to come from somewhere. Robbing Paul to pay Peter is what it feels like at this point.”
The district has been dealing with ongoing financial troubles. CPS is projected to end the school year with a $45 million deficit and may have to contend with a $529 million deficit next year. Recently, CPS was caught up in a disagreement with the Archdiocese of Chicago over whether the district was holding back federal funding meant for students with disabilities who attend private schools.
Further in the deposition, Foxx admits the decision in 2022 and 2023 to not oppose the certificate of innocence petitions from a number of people convicted in cases investigated by former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara and his partners came after high-level meetings with representatives from the Exoneration Project, a Chicago group tied to lawyers who have secured millions of dollars in payouts from the city on behalf of people who claim they were wrongfully convicted.
Gerard C. Moorer, 42, of Chicago, is accused of submitting fraudulent certifications of his unemployment for 16 months — reaping $31,887 in benefits. Moorer has served as deputy district director for Davis since August 2013.
Village Administrator Scott Eisenhauer said the difference amounts to about a $315 difference for the owner of a $150,000 home. He said repayment of a bond that paid for the electrical substation was accidentally applied to the property tax rate when it shouldn’t have been.
In response, Ald. Ray Lopez asked, “Where was that anger when the stores in our communities were under years and years of assault by criminals allowed to shoplift, vandalize, and destroy neighborhood institutions? Many leaders say it is simply an insurance matter. They are wrong. There are real-world consequences for crime running rampant. This closure is the perfect example of that effect.”
For Illinois residents, tickets are discounted: $26 for adults and $15 for children 3 to 11. For an extra $75 per person, you can get a 90-minute tour of the Obama Presidential Center campus, which includes stops at the Home Court athletic center and the Presidential Suite.
The Department of Finance and the Department of Water Management have not consistently shared information about faulty meters, estimated bills, or account adjustments — leaving some customers with huge spikes in their water bills. “The range of that was from approximately $1,000 to one case study where the individual, the spike was approximately $23,000,” said interim Inspector General Tobara Richardson.
“For Chicago, the result has been a steady erosion of one of its most prominent corporate anchors — shrinking office space, relocating employees and the departure of a billionaire who once poured hundreds of millions into the city’s institutions and politics. It also meant fewer high-paying finance jobs downtown and the disappearance of a major civic and cultural benefactor.”
“It seems that we are asking employers to fund our judicial system,” state Sen. Jil Tracy said.
Other tax proposals by Democrats include an attempt to close loopholes allowing corporations to shift in-state profits offshore to avoid taxes, and a 10 percent tax on digital advertisers earning over $150 million a year.
“We cannot balance the state fund or state budget on the backs of local governments at a time when federal support is dwindling,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said outside the Capitol. “Our residents pay into this fund through their income taxes, and they most certainly deserve their fair and equitable share in the benefits of their contributions.”
For the average driver, those increases add up fast. Illinois motorists now pay nearly $150 more annually in state gas taxes than they did before the 2019 increase. Drivers in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and several other counties pay even more because of additional local gas taxes.
An investigation into the fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas González, who was killed by federal immigration agents during a traffic stop in Franklin Park early on in “Operation Midway Blitz,” is underway after the Franklin Park Police Department asked the state police’s Public Integrity Task Force to investigate. “When complete, the case will be turned over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office,” a spokesperson said.
SB 2810 provides that independently owned brick-and-mortar businesses with 25 or fewer employees as of September 9, 2025 would be eligible for the grants from a newly-created Small Business Restoration Fund. State Sen. Don DeWitte said similar grants were handed out during the COVID-19 pandemic and after businesses were affected by protests and looting following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A panel of federal appeals court judges continues to agree that a Chicago federal judge overstepped his authority in ordering the en masse release of hundreds of illegal immigrants detained by federal agents in and around Chicago. The panel sharply disagreed over whether federal law gives federal immigration enforcement agencies the power to detain illegal immigrants without bond, if those immigrants are found anywhere in the country other than at the border itself.
The state created only 54,000 jobs in seven years. That’s a mere 0.9 percent increase, ranking Illinois 43rd in the U.S.
The Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General will also be evaluating the deployment of active duty troops and National Guard members to Los Angeles, Memphis, Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., according to an agency memo published Monday. It was unclear exactly what the inspector general would use to measure the “effectiveness” of the deployments.
Prosecutors said Brandi Wright, 44, allegedly obtained more than $41,000 in pandemic small business loans as part of the Paycheck Protection program for a bakery that did not exist.
Illinois suffered the worst decrease in inventory since the pandemic of all states — down 75%.
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Dabrowski, Wirepoints president emeritus, said the stories are extreme, they recur constantly, and the chain of decisions that allowed them to happen is traceable and documentable.
“The moves, according to some seasoned political consultants, suggest that Pritzker believes he can go pound-for-pound in a presidential run against the likes of fellow Democrat Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris.”
“I don’t know why any Chicago legislator would vote for anything that doesn’t benefit the people that they represent,” said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, before hinting that he may propose a new home for the Bears within the city limits.
“He did not at any point in the interviews we viewed acknowledge the company’s key concern. Walgreens said it didn’t feel like it could safely operate the store. That’s a non-negotiable problem.”
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